Mr. Walter Coles reports
SKEENA INTERSECTS 14.57 G/T AUEQ OVER 31.50 METRES AT ESKAY CREEK
Skeena Resources Ltd. has released additional gold-silver drill results for seven holes from the recently completed phase 1 surface drilling program at the Eskay Creek project located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. The multifaceted phase 1 program was performed in the historically drill-defined 21A, 21C and 22 zones to infill and upgrade areas of inferred resources as well to collect fresh material for an upcoming metallurgical study. Reference images are presented on the company's website.
Eskay Creek phase 1 drilling highlights:
5.28 grams per tonne gold, 62 g/t silver (6.11 g/t gold equivalent) over 42.00 m (SK-18-020)including: 10.71 g/t Au, 135 g/t Ag (12.51 g/t AuEq) over 17.19 m;10.31 g/t Au, 73 g/t Ag (11.29 g/t AuEq) over 20.18 m (SK-18-021); 13.40 g/t Au, 1 g/t Ag (13.42 g/t AuEq) over 10.50 m (SK-18-022); 10.16 g/t Au, 331 g/t Ag (14.57 g/t AuEq) over 31.50 m (SK-18-023)including: 14.24 g/t Au, 963 g/t Ag (27.08 g/t AuEq) over 8.41 m; 8.82 g/t Au, 97 g/t Ag (10.11 g/t AuEq) over 11.50 m (SK-18-024).
Discussion of drill results for 21A zone
The 2018 phase 1 drilling program was designed to infill and upgrade the inferred resource in the 21A zone by increasing drill density to 20 m intercept spacing. This spacing will allow for future economic analyses and will also allow the company to collect fresh material for an upcoming metallurgical characterization and testing program. Reported core lengths represent 80 to 100 per cent of true widths and are supported by well-defined mineralization geometries derived from historical drilling. The majority of intercepts are less than 125 metres from surface. The shallow extent of mineralization in the 21A zone should be suitable for open-pit mining.
Centred on Section 10140N in the northern portion of the 21A zone, 2018 phase 1 drill holes SK-18-023 and SK-18-024 intersected 10.16 g/t Au, 331 g/t Ag (14.57 g/t AuEq) over 31.50 m including 14.24 g/t Au, 963 g/t Ag (27.08 g/t AuEq) over 8.41 m and 8.82 g/t Au, 97 g/t Ag (10.11 g/t AuEq) over 11.50 m, respectively. These holes continue to demonstrate the grade, thickness and continuity of the 21A zone mineralization in an area of low historical drill density.
Additional confidence in grade and continuity has also been established 20 m farther north on Section 10160N by infill drill holes SK-18-021 which intersected 10.31 g/t Au, 73 g/t Ag (11.29 g/t AuEq) over 20.18 m and SK-18-022 averaging 13.40 g/t Au, one g/t Ag (13.42 g/t AuEq) over 10.50 m.
The 21A zone represents a significant portion of the 2018 pit-constrained resource hosted at Eskay Creek containing an indicated resource of 207,000 ounces AuEq grading 5.9 g/t AuEq (1,088,000tonnes grading 4.9 g/t Au, 72 g/t Ag) and an inferred resource of 418,000 ounces AuEq grading 4.6 g/t AuEq (2,809,000 tonnes grading 3.8 g/t Au, 63 g/t Ag) (see news release dated Sept. 17, 2018).
Exploration update
Due to the onset of winter at Eskay Creek, the 2018 phase 1 drilling program has been paused until conditions improve. The planned drilling in the 21A and 21C zones was completed in its entirety; however, only 30 per cent of the infill drilling was completed in the 22 zone. The two drill rigs have been remobilized to the company's 100-per-cent-owned Snip project where a 2,000-metre surface exploration drilling program is being performed to assess previously untested soil anomalies as well as depth extensions of the Twin zone and 200 Footwall targets.
About Eskay Creek
In December, 2017, Skeena secured an option to acquire 100-per-cent interest in the Eskay Creek property. Discovered in the Golden Triangle in 1988, the former Eskay Creek mine produced approximately 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver at average grades of 45 g/t gold and 2,224 g/t silver. Eskay Creek was once the world's highest-grade gold mine and fifth-largest silver mine by volume.
A precious- and base-metal-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit, Eskay-style mineralization has been the focus of considerable exploration activity in the Golden Triangle dating back to 1932. Exploration programs in 1988 led to the discovery of the 21A and 21B zones, followed by underground development of the 21B zone starting in 1990 with the official opening of the Eskay Creek mine in 1994. Over the 14-year life of the mine, approximately 2.2 million tonnes of ore were mined with cut-off grades ranging from 12 to 15 g/t AuEq for mill ore and 30 g/t AuEq for direct shipping smelter ore.
Eskay is endowed with excellent infrastructure including all-weather road access and proximity to the new 287-kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line. The property consists of eight mineral leases, two surface leases and several unpatented mining claims totalling 6,151 hectares.
About Skeena Resources Ltd.
Skeena Resources is a junior Canadian mining exploration company focused on developing prospective precious and base metal properties in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The company's primary activities are the exploration and development of the past-producing Snip mine and the recently optioned Eskay Creek mine, both acquired from Barrick. In addition, the company has completed a preliminary economic assessment on the GJ copper-gold porphyry project.
Qualified persons
Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek project are administered on site by the company's exploration managers, Colin Russell, PGeo, and Adrian Newton, PGeo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, PGeo, vice-president of exploration and resource development, is the qualified person for the company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects.
Quality assurance -- quality control
Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently securely stored on site. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QA/QC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, PGeo, of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the company's qualified person, Mr. Geddes.
Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry's analytical facility in North Vancouver, B.C., for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and one kilogram is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50-gram fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100 ppm are reanalyzed using a 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish. Analysis for silver is by 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish with a lower limit of five ppm and upper limit of 10,000 ppm. Samples with silver assays greater than 10,000ppm are re-analyzed using a gravimetric silver concentrate method. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48-multielemental geochemical package by a four-acid digestion, followed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and also for mercury using an aqua regia digest with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. Samples with sulphur reporting greater than 10 per cent from the multielement analysis are reanalyzed for total sulphur by Leco furnace and infrared spectroscopy.
ESKAY CREEK PROJECT PHASE 1 21A ZONE LENGTH-WEIGHTEDDRILL HOLE GOLD AND SILVER COMPOSITESHole IDFromToCore length Au Ag AuEq(m) (m)(m)(g/t)(g/t)(g/t)SK-18-018 43.00 72.5029.50 1.39 51 2.07including 49.35 50.50 1.15 2.2379212.79SK-18-018 88.00116.5028.50 1.856 1.94SK-18-018144.50147.50 3.00 1.494 1.54SK-18-019 41.00 79.5038.50 1.90167 4.12including 48.65 49.50 0.85 4.512,56038.64and 60.85 61.50 0.65 6.4630510.53SK-18-019 94.50114.5020.00 0.946 1.02SK-18-019132.00160.5028.50 0.919 1.03SK-18-020 38.00 80.0042.00 5.28 62 6.11including 52.48 69.6717.1910.7113512.51including 52.48 54.00 1.52 9.82 8210.91and 54.00 55.00 1.0013.5522216.51and 55.00 56.00 1.0015.5522218.51and 56.00 57.00 1.0018.8027222.43and 57.00 58.35 1.3532.6026536.13and 58.35 59.50 1.1524.10 3824.61and 59.50 61.00 1.5012.2036417.05and 61.00 62.50 1.50 5.79104 7.18SK-18-020 96.50140.0043.50 1.168 1.27SK-18-021104.32124.5020.1810.31 7311.29including104.32104.82 0.5012.8080023.47and104.82105.35 0.53 2.9057410.55and105.35106.35 1.00 9.3715711.46and109.50110.88 1.3817.30817.41and115.50117.00 1.5024.80 5825.57and117.00118.50 1.5030.10 9231.33and118.50120.00 1.5015.35 7016.28SK-18-022110.00120.5010.5013.40113.42including110.66112.00 1.3410.55010.55and112.00113.00 1.0011.30011.30and113.00114.00 1.0017.60017.60and114.00115.00 1.0028.20028.20and115.00116.00 1.0033.10033.10and116.00117.00 1.0023.50023.50SK-18-023 96.50128.0031.5010.1633114.57including 96.50104.91 8.4114.2496327.08and 97.78 98.75 0.9748.9084560.17and 98.75100.00 1.25 9.851,29027.05and100.00100.78 0.7846.106,890 137.97and100.78102.09 1.31 6.96210 9.76including113.00114.50 1.5020.40 4320.97and114.50116.00 1.50 9.97 1510.17and120.50123.00 2.5026.90 4927.55and123.00125.00 2.0010.4094222.96and126.50128.00 1.5011.90 1712.13SK-18-024114.00125.5011.50 8.82 9710.11including119.50121.00 1.5012.5545318.59and121.00122.50 1.5020.70020.70and122.50124.00 1.5023.00 5523.73 Gold equivalent (AuEq) calculated via the formula: Au (g/t) plus (Ag (g/t) divided by 75). Reported core lengths represent 80 to 100 per cent of true widths and are supported by well-defined mineralization geometries derived from historical drilling. Length-weighted AuEq composites were constrained by geological considerations as well as a calculated 1.0 g/t AuEq assay grade cut-off assuming reasonable prospects for economic extraction via open-pit mining methods. Grade capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au and Ag assays informing the length-weighted AuEq composites. Processing recoveries have not been applied to the AuEq calculation and are disclosed at 100 per cent due to a lack of supporting information. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.
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